Tampa Bay Lightning right wing Brett Connolly (14) and Dallas Stars center Tom Wandell (23), of Sweden, compete for a loose puck as linesman Andy McElman (90) clears a path in the third period of an NHL hockey game, Friday, Jan. 20, 2012, in Dallas. The Lightning won 2-1.

The first-year coach of the Stars has typically defended his team when its motivation has been questioned, but he went on the offensive Friday night.

After Dallas was clearly outplayed in the first 30 minutes en route to a 2-1 loss to Tampa Bay, Gulutzan ripped into the Stars.

“The most frustrating part was really the first 30 minutes of getting outworked,” Gulutzan said. “That’s always the most frustrating part. I’ve got no problem if you go in a shootout or you play hard and you just don’t get results. When you only play 30 minutes, some team comes into your building on a Friday night and outplays you for 30 minutes. I have a real big problem with that.”

Gulutzan said he respects the Lightning, who are now 19-23-4, but he said he doesn’t understand how his team could work so hard in losses to high-flying St. Louis and Detroit but not show up against Tampa Bay. Dallas also has losses in the last 11 games to Columbus and Anaheim, when they were 30th and 29th in the NHL respectively.

“The only reason you prepare against Detroit, Boston, St. Louis is because you’ve got a little fear in your belly that you might get embarrassed,” Gulutzan said. “So you work and do the little things. It’s a sign of weakness if you can’t bring that little fear and that adrenaline in your game every night. You just think you’re too good.”

Dallas was outworked and outshot early in the game and gave up a goal to Teddy Purcell on a defensive breakdown where Stars players simply lost assignments and lost focus. Dallas battled back and tied the score when a puck went in off of Tom Wandell’s skate at the 1:22 mark of the third period. However, Purcell scored his second goal of the game just 1:14 later. The Stars are 0-3-1 in their last four games and have scored four goals in that span.

Dallas is without leading centers Jamie Benn (appendectomy) and Mike Ribeiro (knee), but Gulutzan said that was no excuse. He said that he can accept losses like the ones to St. Louis and Detroit, because they show that the Stars could improve. However, he said the performance Friday should be a warning to the players.

“How do you deal with the problem? You have to make them aware that they are not good enough — with or without Jamie Benn and Mike Ribeiro in the lineup — to not be a hardworking team. That’s the message. They are just not good enough,” Gulutzan said.

“You have to work 60 minutes. We have to work 60 minutes every night with everyone in our lineup if we want to play in the playoffs. If we don’t, then we won’t play. That needs to be learned.”

The Stars get a quick chance to redeem themselves as they flew to Minnesota on Friday night and will play a Wild team that is fighting for playoff positioning.

“There better be work ethic,” he said. “I’ll tell you what, Minnesota will be ready for us. They’ll be ready to work. We’ll go with eight guys if we have to in order to work. We need more. We need to be prepared.”

To post a comment, log into your chosen social network and then add your comment below. Your comments are subject to our Terms of Service and the privacy policy and terms of service of your social network. If you do not want to comment with a social network, please consider writing a letter to the editor.